Tradition in "The Lottery": Meaning and Implication

Introduction

Tradition, defined as “a belief, principle, or way of acting that people in a particular society or group have continued to follow for a long time” (“Tradition”), plays an essential role in all cultures and is to be passed down from generations to generations. This repetition makes tradition routine that societies become accustomed to it without reflecting the morals behind. In “The Lottery”, Jackson attacks and questions the continual of inhumane traditions in our society. Therefore this essay will analyze “The Lottery” and the role of tradition in the novel.

“The Lottery”: Tradition and Its Role

Jackson’s story portrays an annual public lottery in a village, which people engage in it quite deviously. It is not until the end of the story do we realize that the “winner” of the lottery will be stoned to death and becomes the sacrificial victim of the deadly rite. Despite the original ritual being forgotten, every year a villager dies for the sake of good harvest and most importantly for keeping the tradition alive. This established practice demonstrates how persuasive tradition can be on societies and humans as the blind obedience of the villagers towards the lottery has transformed and justified murder into a ritual and a core of the village (Kosenko 27). In Nebeker’s words, the lottery is “unexamined and unchanging traditions which he could easily change if he only realized their implication” (102).

Jackson wrote in the July 22, 1948 issue of San Francisco Chronicle: “I suppose, I hoped, by setting a particularly brutal ancient rite in the present and in my own village to chock the story’s readers with a graphic dramatization of the pointless violence and general inhumanity in their own lives” (qtd in Friedman 64). The warning given by the author is apparent. Ultimately the consequence can be disastrous when tradition takes the place of a rationalizing mind. Jackson has shown us what humanity means, and left the readers some questions to think about: what are the social and cultural significance of traditions? To what extent traditions should be kept? How can we decide which traditions to pass down and which are to be abolished? In what way do tradition and modernity conflict with each other?

The  meaning of traditions to characters

When it comes to the meaning of traditions to people, it varies among the villagers in “The Lottery”. Yet, to most of them, there has to be a lottery because there has always been a lottery over the years. Undoubtedly, Old Man Warner is in strong favour of the tradition. The lottery builds his pride and authority (Coulthard 226; Shields 415). “Seventy-seventh year I been in the lottery” (Jackson 67), this man is the one who has participated in the lottery for his whole life and the one who has never drawn the paper slip with a black spot, which make him feel proud and immortal. Being the oldest man in town and having lived through seventy-seven lotteries, Old Man Warner is the witness and he is the defender of the tradition (Shields 415). “Guess that’s everyone. Old Man Warner make it?” (65), the special mention of his name proves that his presence is a major part of the lottery. Old Man Warner calls the people who want to end it “a pack of young fools” (67). To him, the lottery represents progress and survival of both the village and himself. The tradition must be passed down and his mortality and authority will be maintained. In no way will Old Man Warner agree with the abolishment of this brutal tradition because if the lottery was stopped, it would become meaningless to put his life on risks all those years (Coulthard 226).

Tessie Hutchinson, the story’s unlucky victim, is an interesting character to explore. Tessie herself seems like a folksy, ordinary woman who does household chores and takes care of the family. The lottery tradition is trivial to her. She even forgets the day of the lottery and is late for it: “Clean forgot what day it was…. And then I remembered it was the twenty-seventh” (Jackson 64).. Perhaps Tessie has got used to the lottery, which is no longer of much importance to her, she shows casual attitude towards it. Nevertheless, she does not want to miss the enjoyment of the day and still participate in the lottery, she “came a-running”, “craned her neck to see through the crowd”(64), all these descriptions illustrate that the tradition is like another regular school picnic which she has accepted and find it ordinary and normal.

However, when her household wins the lottery, her attitude changes and the tradition immediately becomes a concern of hers. She protests strongly and shouts to Mr. Summers “You didn’t give him enough to take any paper he wanted. I saw you. It wasn’t fair.” (Jackson 67). She becomes terrified, desperate and utterly rebellious in other’s eyes. Her fate will be determined in the second round of the lottery. Once Tessie finds out she gets the paper slip with black spot, she decides the tradition is unfair that it should not be conducted. If someone else was chosen under the same circumstances, she would not have protested. It is only the horror she felt in front of death that makes her object the tradition. Driven by the fear of death, she challenges explicitly the unfairness, shouting “It isn’t fair, it isn’t right” (70). The lottery has now made her a scapegoat and the target (Chen 1024; Kosenko 27), and the tradition is no longer a trivial practice but the cause of her death.

For Mr. Graves and Mr. Summers, the tradition is a representation of their power domination within the community (Shields 415). Mr. Summers is a business elite from the industrial field who owns a coal mine, he is wealthy and has “the time and energy to devote to civic activities” (Jackson 63) while Mr. Graves is the postmaster, the second most powerful official in the government. Kosenko suggests that the village exhibits some socio-economic stratification (28), which allows Mr. Summers and Mr. Graves to be the authority. From making up the paper slips to storing the black box, declaring the opening of the lottery and to hosting the event, the two men control the whole lottery process in which their power and status are manifested. Looking at another perspective, Nebeker suggests that the names of the characters are intentional and carries special significance (102). The symbolic nature of Mr. Graves and Mr. Summers’ names is apparent. As their names imply, Mr. Graves is symbolic of death while Mr. Summers, summer solstices, which also indicates the time of the lottery be held. Administering and conducting the lottery, the two together signify the death in summer (Nebeker, 102), the reward the winner receives from the “lottery”. Mr. Summers and Mr. Graves thus are the tradition themselves.

Tradition as the backbone of the community

Not only is the lottery significant to the people in different ways, but it also to the village and the society. It is the backbone of the community. It serves as an event for socialization, something celebrated and expected by all people. “The lottery was conducted – as were the square dances, the teenage club, the Halloween program” (Jackson 64). Perceived as a festive, anticipated occasion, the tradition brings people together. 27th June is a day where the villagers gather. The women “greeted one another and exchanged bits of gossip” (62). The men talk about “planting and rain, tractors and taxes” (62) and the children collect stones in a playful manner. The lottery creates a day of interaction and excitement. “ ‘Come on, come on, everyone’ ” (70) shows how much the town looks forward to the tradition of stoning. They embrace the lottery with an enthusiastic spirit as a natural, necessary part of the year, and prepare the lottery as they would for other functions (Shields 414) . Admittedly, the townspeople already forget when or why the tradition begins, and much ritual about it has been “forgotten or discarded” (63). Nevertheless, the centrality of the tradition to the community is not diminished. It remains significant. Indeed, the loss of materials and knowledge about the lottery has made the tradition more sacred to the villagers as the remaining artifacts and information endow a sense of myth and mystery.

One may also see the lottery as an important ritualistic, sacrificial offering to secure abundant harvest (Griffin 44). “Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon” (Jackson 66). Stone a person to death and the rain will come, which will provide a good crop season. In the townspeople’ s eye, the tradition is a sacred offering to the God who controls the crop growth of the season. They genuinely believe that it is beneficial to the village’s stability and prosperity. Without the lottery, “[people]’d all be eating stewed chickweed and acorns” (66) as the Old Man Warner says. This is similar to the ancient tribes who used to sacrifice animals or even people to their Gods as tributes for plentiful food, peace or anything they wish for. Such mindset and superstition give the lottery the power to stand against the test of time and the reason to continue each year in spite of its brutality and inhumanity.

The Marxist idea of traditions

Another interesting perspective to look at the power of traditions is the Marxist idea in the story. In his critical reading of “The Lottery”, Kosenko comments that “the lottery is an ideological mechanism” (27), which functions as a reinforcement of hierarchical social order in the village. The tradition is conducted by the authority, Mr. Summers and Mr. Graves, and people have to listen and follow their instructions during the process. Unconscious fear is instilled into the villagers’ mind: “The villagers kept their distance, leaving a space between themselves and the stool” (Jackson 63) and “there was a long pause, a breathless pause” (67). People stone Tessie to death, which is a murder. Why would people engage in a murder? Perhaps they are scared but at the same time being careful not to upset the tradition as well as the officials taking charge of the lottery since they might be the selected for the next one. More importantly, everyone is participating the lottery and the officials are there, there is pressure to conform to the majority and the primitive tradition. Clearly, the lottery produces conformity to culture and inherent inequities between those high in the social ladders and those low in the position, which is necessary for the smooth operation and stability of society (Kosenko 27).

Traditions vs Modernity

The lottery is an age-old tradition. Certainly, it has its roles and meanings in the village. At the same time, it is a brutal tradition taking people’s lives, which is not likely to be accepted in a modern society. One of the central themes in “The Lottery” is the conflicting forces between traditions and modernity. The villagers are born with the tradition and are raised to follow and pass it down, not knowing the origins, the purpose or any historical details, but “still remembered to use stones” (Jackson 69), which is what really matters. Mrs. Adams ruefully makes a mention that some villages have already abandoned the tradition of holding lotteries. However, this leads to the condemnation from Old Man Warner saying “they’ll be wanting to go back to living in caves, nobody work any more, live that way for a while” (66). Apparently, being “modern” to give up outdated traditions is equivalent to regression in civilization. The people, especially the elder generations, believe that being traditional is the definition of modernity as traditions are what bring them where they are today.

Possibly the most depressing thing in the lottery is that traditions normalize cruel, unspeakable acts in a modern society (Kosenko 30). We can tell the town is fairly modernized in terms of its looks and development. The bank, the post office, and the coal business and schools, all these are traces of modernity. Industries, infrastructure and education are developing. However, people still hold onto superstition and their minds are resistant to changes. Ancient traditions have endowed the village order and certainty. The lottery is held each year on the 27th June and around ten o’clock of that day, people start to gather. It has become a routine and people just do it. More importantly, the villagers are conditioned to believe that this stable, idyllic town life and the good harvest are because of the lottery and the sacrifice. What if the crop growth was poor after the lottery? The villagers do not appear to consider or make complementary conclusion that the tradition is a pure superstition (Griffin 45). Such closure of minds blinds them from seeing the necessity of abandoning the violent tradition as a real civilized society should do. Moreover, the need for changes frightens them that their civilization will collapse if they follow the example of other villages to abolish the lottery. In fact, change is vital for social progress and societies cannot move forward in the absence of it. Needless to say, modernity requires the refinement or abolishment of obsolete traditions. Sadly, the villagers have failed to see this. Modernization of the village does not bring open-mindedness and civilized mindset to its people. Griffin argues that such contrasting forces illustrate Jackson’s stance that humanity’s tendency towards violence and superstition incredibly overshadow the quest for social progression, and above all, the need for civilized traditions.

Conclusion

To some extent, this is a product of collective unconsciousness and ignorance to the true meaning of traditions and modernity (Chen 1022). The villagers have never known anything but the old traditions they have been relying on. Therefore, they do not dare to question the age-old lottery, only hoping they are not the chosen one to be stoned. However, none of them realize it is the lottery that is destroying their civilization and humanity, pushing them away from modernity. It is fallacious to think that people can do anything in the name of traditions and call their terrible acts as ritual (Griffin 45) and assume that traditions and modernity are two extreme opposites. Such belief gives tradition its strength, thus demanding the lottery game, which has become a time-honored ritual in the people’s eyes, be played without realizing that this most enduring ritual involves inhumane sacrifice of humans. Nonetheless, tradition does not give an excuse to harm anyone and modernity does not necessarily lead to the collapse of traditions. People need to realize that modernity comes from the reflection of traditions. If the village understood the implications of these two ideas, it would not be hard for them to abandon the lottery (Griffin 46; Shields 416).

Jackson does not attack tradition itself as holding onto tradition is for both our ritual and belonging need (Griffin 46). What is attacked is the mindless conformity and blind obedience without questioning the moral, emotional and physical conflicts a tradition presents. While traditions build a community’s culture, history and development, it is paramount to understand they should never overshadow social progression and modernity, and that cruel, irrational traditions must be scrutinized.

References

1. Chen, Fuyu. “A Representative and a Scapegoat: Analysis of Tessie Hutchinson in The Lottery”. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, vol. 2 no. 5, May 2012, pp. 1022-1026.
2. Coulthard, A.R. “Jackson’s the Lottery”. The Explicator, vol. 48, no. 3, 1990, pp. 226-228.
3. Friedman, Lenemaja. Shirley Jackson. Twayne Publishers, 1975.
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5. Jackson, Shirley. “The Lottery”. The Granta Book of the Contemporary American Short Story, edited by Richard Ford, Penguin Books, 1992, pp. 62-70.
6. Kosenko, Peter. “A Marxist/ Feminist Reading of Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery”. ” New Orleans Review, vol. 12, no. 1, Spring 1985, pp.27-32.
7. Nebeker, Helen E. “ “The Lottery”: Symbolic Tour de Force.” American Literature, vol. 46, no. 1, March 1974, pp. 100-108.
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9. “Tradition.” Cambridge Dictionary, dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/tradition.